[QUOTE][OK, I know two tests alone are not conclusive but... I wonder if this whole "some animations are better than others" idea isn't plain ol' wrong. I know it's generally accepted as being true, but it also dates back to the days when the shield bug roamed unknown... Hmmm...Mebbe it's just the big discrepancy in defense values that make 2handers suck this bad in long melees.../QUOTE]

Those are some veeeeery interesting test results. Especially the idea that blocking animations are possibly tied to defense actually kicking in and parrying attacks. And it does make a fair bit of sense, as even a good two hander typically has less overall defense than a basic armoured sarge with no upgrades. Units like that are going to drop like flies.

Still, two-handers are known to improve in peformance with faster animations, so I think attack speed is going to be an issue, regardless.